| Previous | 1 2 3 4 5 | Next |
Reasons For Protecting Wetlands, and Types of Wetlands
There are many reasons for protecting wetlands. The Wetlands Protection Act defines nine of these reasons and calls them “the interests of the act.”
| Public water supplies | Private water supplies | Groundwater supplies |
| Flood control | Storm damage prevention | Prevention of pollution |
| Protection of land containing shellfish* | Protection of wildlife habitat | Protection of fisheries |
* Includes only marine shellfish, but rivers may contribute to the health of shellfish populations.
The act also defines 10 types of wetlands, called “resource areas.”
| Freshwater wetlands** | Land subject to flooding | Riverfront areas |
| Banks | Land under water | Land subject to coastal storm flowage* |
| Coastal wetlands* | Coastal beaches* | Land subject to tidal action* |
| Coastal dunes* |
*Not an issue in Berkshire County since we are not a coastal area.
** Includes flats, swamps, and marshes
Any action that alters a resource area (type of wetland), is presumed to have an impact on one or more of the nine interests of the act (reasons for protecting wetlands) and requires a permit (Order of Conditions). The act requires that the Conservation Commission use the permitting process to “…impose such conditions as will contribute to the protection of the interests.” Note that the law presumes that work in a wetland will have an impact. The conservation commission does not have to prove that work in the wetland will have an impact. The burden of proof is on the applicant to prove that work will not have an impact.
What Are The Types Of Protected Wetlands (Resource Areas)?
Riverfront Areas
Areas within 200 feet of a perennial stream’s or river’s mean annual high water are protected. In order to work in a riverfront area, the applicant must show that there is no practicable and substantially equivalent economic alternative to the proposed work. The applicant must also show that the proposed work will not create a significant adverse impact on any of the interests of the act.
Bordering Vegetated Wetlands
(Freshwater Wetlands including Marshes and Swamps)
If an area is a freshwater wetland, and if it borders a body of water*, it is called a “bordering vegetated wetland” and is protected under the Wetlands Protection Act. An area is considered a wetland if at least 50% of its vegetation is of the type that typify wetlands. The act provides a partial list of these wetlands species (called wetland indicator species).
The wetland may actually extend beyond the point at which the wetland vegetation falls below 50%. In fact, a wetland may have no wetland plants at all. Soils that are continually saturated with water change their characteristics and become what soil scientists call hydric soils. Hydric soils are an indicator of wetlands even when wetland plants are absent. For this reason, the presence of hydric soils is another definitive indicator of wetlands.
For more information on wetlands delineation and on wetlands indicator species, see Delineating Vegetated Bordering Wetlands Under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Bordering Land Subject To Flooding
(Land In The Floodplain)
If an area is within the 100-year floodplain (an area whose statistical likelihood of flooding in any given year is 1% or greater), and if it borders a body of water, it is called “bordering land subject to flooding” and is protected under the Wetlands Protection Act. The limits of the 100-year floodplain can be determined by consulting maps published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), although accounts of observations of flooding can in some cases be used as evidence also. FEMA maps can often be obtained from a town’s or city’s Engineering Department. A registered professional engineer may also survey an area to determine the extent of the floodplain.
Isolated Land Subject To Flooding
Land that is subject to flooding may be protected even if it does not border a body of water. To be protected as “isolated land subject to flooding,” the land must be an isolated depression (i.e., it is not connected to a stream or other body of water) that contains a quarter acre-foot of water, the average depth of this water is at least 6 inches, and the land floods to this level at least once a year. (A quarter acre-foot of water is the amount of water contained in one acre of land flooded to a depth of 3 inches, or the amount of water contained in a quarter acre of land flooded to a depth of one foot. This amount of water is equal to 43,560 cubic feet of water.)
Temporary Ponds
Temporary ponds are protected only if they also fall in the category of isolated land subject to flooding or are in the 100-year floodplain. However, they may be protected if they are vernal pools, and especially if they have been certified as vernal pools.
Banks
Banks include not only the banks of flowing water such as rivers and streams, but also the banks of lakes and ponds. Intermittent streams are jurisdictional if they occur below a jurisdictional wetland.
Land Under Water
Land under water includes land under flowing water and land under ponds and lakes. Building a pier or dock that extends into the water or constructing supports for bridges that cross bodies of water are examples of projects involving land under water. Protection of land under water also includes prohibitions against adding fill to streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and other bodies of water.
*For the pupose of the Wetlands Protection Act, “bodies of water” means ocean, estuaries, creeks, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), ponds (larger than 10,000 square feet), and lakes. In Berkshire County we have no ocean and no estuaries.
| Previous | 1 2 3 4 5 | Next |